Tell us about yourself?
I come from Romania. I work in a research institute (Royal Observatory of Belgium) on solar physics field. In my free time, I like to go for walks in nature, reading and watching movies.
How did you get involved with SB?
My colleague from French classes, Mohamad, was working at SB at the time and he presented the organisation, as part of our evaluation projects.
Favourite memory with SB?
I always enjoy the time with the children and with the volunteers. There are many favourite memories. One was the first time I went to the centre in NOH and I was afraid it would be difficult to deal with teenagers due to their age. But it turned out to be very nice and they were all very well behaved. I was also very much impressed with the personal there. And the second one is the crazy activities Diana, one of the coordinators, used to organise. First I thought, this cannot work, it is too insane, but it turned out that the children liked it a lot.
What do you find challenging?
Working with youths from different cultures and sometimes not knowing how should I behave in order to not offend anybody.
Advice for a future volunteer?
To be open to any crazy ideas. Not to judge anybody.
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Marilena is one of our volunteers for the SB Espoir weekend program. Interested in volunteering with us? Click here.
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